Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Joe's Rialto Beach photos






Hummingbird on the deck. Hawk through the kitchen window

  My window must need a wash!
                    The background of greenery makes it difficult to see the hummingbird. Look, then look again.

Monday, July 20, 2015

Joe the Explorer






More views of the mountains






View from Lake Crescent


Madison Falls

Short walk to the falls. Always pretty.
                                        Madison Falls
                                 Rest stop (for those in need) Below:  How big was this tree?

Flowers from Port Townsend and Heart O' The Hills Campground

                     Near our site
                              Port Townsend
                                 Port Townsend
                                Port Townsend
                                     Port Townsend
                               Port Townsend
                                 Near our camp site
                 Port Townsend  This one looks very similar to Deadly Nightshade!


Saturday, July 18, 2015

Hurricane Ridge...low snowfall





Olympic Peninsula Rocks!

We love the Olympic Peninsula. We just enjoyed a week of camping in the beautiful forest. Our Campsite was near the woods in Heart Of the Hills campground. The beautiful song of the Swainson's Thrush was heard throughout the campground.
Ravens have many sounds, some comical.
Heart o' the Hills campground is about nineteen miles from Hurricane Ridge which made it easy to visit several times.
  The drive to Hurricane Ridge is a winding road. You never know if it will be clear at the top.
The first day was completely covered with clouds. The second trip was partly cloudy. Our last attempt was clear.
Because of the low snowfall this year it looked different. It is more beautiful with snow but  I enjoy seeing the form of the mountains.
The other result is a scarcity of wild flowers.
We didn't see as many animals as usual but not seeing them tells you how lucky you were to see them other times.
We saw  deer. A young buck was quite close to the parking lot. One doe with two very  young fawns  were on the side of the road.
We did see a new species of rodent. I am trying to figure out what it is. It was bigger than a rat and shaped more like a beaver but no beaver tail. It was the same size at both ends of the body and it walked across the highway like an old man It was the cutest!
 We also had a deer run in front of the car. Luckily we didn't make contact with it.  And, a dog chased our wheels and ran in front of the car. Good thing Joe is a careful driver. The dog episode was in La Push.
We drove to see the restoration of the dam on the Elwha River. Interesting. Apparently,
not everyone was not on board. I saw a sign in a yard. " We need tourists not salmon"

We drove to Mora and Rialto Beach. So beautiful

We checked out Port Townsend and Port Angeles. We had a nice visit with our niece Claudia who lives in Port Angeles. Our nephew Mark and his wife Vicky were visiting, so we had a chance to catch up on family news.


        Bare facts about the bear
                                Ranger Rick
Last night  we saw a magnificent sunset right above the bathrooms. Now, if only we'd been at Hurricane Ridge.

Highlights: The beautiful song of the Swainson's Thrush was heard throughout the campground.

The comical sounds of the Raven.

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Sorry, I don't do Romaine!

 


The family of deer were back this morning eating plants, grape and fig leaves.
When they reached the back yard I decided to take a few photos. I wanted them to stay a little longer so I tossed a little lettuce over the deck railing.  The doe walked to the lettuce, smelled it and walked away.  Well I never! Such rudeness!  Picky, picky!



Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Hawks cont.

       I'm confused. This is a much bigger bird. Wish I could see the head better. Almost looks like an owl.
This is the hawk in the yard that decided to take a break after it chased the squirrel.

Hawk Antics

Good old kitchen window. I looked out and saw a hawk chasing a squirrel, then it just plopped itself down and sat. I got a few photos before it sat, then called Joe to come and have a look/see.
He took a photo  then decided to go outside and that was the end of the hawks break. Off it flew into the trees.